Canada and Denmark have signed an agreement to settle the territorial dispute over the 1.3 square kilometer Hans Island in the Arctic Ocean.
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Earlier, the countries agreed that a border would be drawn along Hans Island, dividing it between the Canadian territory of Nunavut and the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland.
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“Today, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, together with Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute B. Egede, signed an agreement in Ottawa that resolves outstanding border issues over Tartupaluk/Gansa Island,” the Danish Foreign Ministry website says.
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It is also noted that this agreement is an “important historical milestone” in relations between “friends and neighbors” and is the culmination of many years of discussions.
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The territorial dispute between Denmark and Canada over the right to own the island of Hans lasted from 1973, when an agreement was being developed on the delimitation of the continental shelf between Canada and Greenland. The parties agreed that, since the island is not a maritime territory, its ownership should be considered separately, but a formal agreement was never reached.
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The conflict proceeded in a relatively “peaceful” form, but it is not so easy to resolve it, since the geographical location determines the strategic significance of the region.
